An Investigation of the Relationship Between Administrator Leadership Style and Teacher Morale

Download or read book An Investigation of the Relationship Between Administrator Leadership Style and Teacher Morale written by Surjit Kaur Bhella and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Industry, business, military and other government agencies are increasingly recognizing the significance of human factors in the productivity of complex organizations. Educational institutions are no exception to this fact. It is assumed that morale and productivity are related to the managerial style of the supervisor. Leaders are faced with the challenge of directing the work group toward the target of increased productivity while at the same time maximizing member satisfaction. The basic research problem of this study was to investigate the relationship between leadership style of high school principals (in terms of their Concern for Production and Concern for People) and certain dimensions of teacher morale. The null hypothesis which guided this study was that there was no significant relationship between teacher perceptions of administrative behavior and teacher morale. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 132 teachers from ten high schools in the state of Oregon. The results are based on 126 returns, 90 male and 36 female respondents. Principal Leadership Style Questionnaire was used to measure two dimensions (Concern for People and Concern for Production) of administrative behavior. Purdue Teacher Opinionaire was used to measure ten factors of teacher morale. All hypotheses were tested at .05 level of confidence. The first primary hypothesis asserting that there would be no partial correlation between administrative dimensions and Teacher Rapport with Principal was rejected. The second primary hypothesis that there would be no partial correlation between administrative dimensions and Satisfaction with Teaching was accepted. Partial correlation was 4ppliedto analyze the primary hypotheses by eliminating the effects of secondary hypotheses (Rapport Among Teachers, Teacher Salary, Teacher Load, Curriculum Issues, Teacher Status, Community Support of Education, School Facilities, Community Pressures, Age and Sex). T-test based on regression coefficients was applied to analyze the secondary hypotheses. Out of 20 secondary hypotheses tested, five of them were rejected. Analysis of the primary and secondary hypotheses concluded that Curriculum Issues, Rapport with Principal and Teacher Salary are positively related to both the dimensions of administrative behavior. Rapport Among Teachers was positively related to Concern for People but not Production. Satisfaction with Teaching, Teacher Load, Teacher Status, Community Support of Education, School Facilities and Services, Community Pressures, Age and Sex of the teachers are not related to the perceived leadership style of the principal. Teachers Satisfaction with Teaching is probably related mostly to those things that happen directly with pupils inside the classroom over which principals have little influence. Results of the two administrative dimensions indicated that a principal's leadership behavior is perceived by his faculty in various ways. However, on the average, administrators were rated high on both the "Production" and "People" dimensions of administrative behavior and perceived as having a "6,7" or "7,8" leadership style as described by Blake and Mouton (1964). Analysis of this research further suggest that educational administrators investigated in this study seem to have above average skills in the eyes of their faculty in promoting both goal achievement and member satisfaction. It is recommended that the design of this study be replicated on a larger teacher population and sample size in different geographical areas.